Need You Now
by The Fifth Dimension
Summary: Becky wasn't sure when exactly Alexa became so clingy, but it was getting on her last nerve. She was unaware of just how much they needed each other - they needed each other now. [First story in the "Need You Now" universe, an AU series of stories]
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Finally got some free time to write! This story features Becky (of course) and Alexa, who is my new favorite everything. The romance is moreso implied in this, but it's definitely there if you squint hard enough. Hope you like!**

* * *

 _ **Need You Now**_

* * *

Becky couldn't understand why Alexa was always so needy. No matter what they did or how often they spent their time together, Alexa just _needed_ more. It's not like she was a stalker or a maniac, but hearing her whine and complain every time Becky wanted to have an Alexa-less night out was grating to her eardrums. Was she bored? The Irish woman pondered this thought on numerous occasions, but could never say for certain. They'd only been roommates for nine months, but sometimes she wondered if nine was more than enough. They gave it a solid effort, but maybe it was time to go back to not living together - back to having a friendship instead of this claustrophobic mess it had become.

Speaking of mess, would it kill Alexa to clean the place up a bit while she was home? This never seemed to be an issue until Becky needed to go somewhere, her keys constantly warping to another dimension to avoid detection. That's what it felt like, at any rate. Still, this was typical Alexa - messy. Becky knew that she'd be doing most of the heavy-lifting to keep their apartment in decent shape, but - as she pulls her keys from underneath a recently used coffee mug - this was beginning to drive her mad. Keys finally in hand, Becky made her way towards the door, only to nearly bowl her roommate over.

"Jesus, Becky. You almost gave me a heart attack."

The look on Alexa's face was one that Becky was all too familiar with - a mix of annoyance and frustration, with just a dash of 'Get out of my face before I tear yours off like a Halloween mask.'

"I take it you're not in a Lex-cellent mood."

Before Becky could inquire more, her smaller friend shoved past her, plopping onto the living room couch. She hadn't even bothered to remove her shoes before stomping along the floor, causing Becky to curse her with every fiber of her being.

"Ugh, work was horrible! This rude guy came up to me _demanding_ that I cash his checks. Uh, hello? I'm not even authorized to do that, moron! But obviously I can't call him that to his face."

"Oh, obviously!" Becky's voice was dripping with sarcasm, but she couldn't help it. Alexa always had these 'stories' to share, and they were more or less the same. The sooner Becky let her finish her little tirade, the sooner she could get going.

"Plus, he smelled like a dumpster. It was the worst." Alexa made an exaggerated hand motion, before plucking the TV remote from underneath the couch cushion - 'So that's where it was,' Becky thought to herself. "At least we still have this horror movie marathon to look forward to tonight. Make some popcorn, would ya, Becks?"

"Um," Becky wasn't sure of where to start explaining, but from the top seemed like as good a place as any. "See, funny story. I actually have plans tonight."

"I'm not laughing."

"Alexa."

"Can't you, I don't know… cancel or something? I'm in a really crappy mood, and all I want to do is watch movies."

And there it was. This happened all of the time. Alexa would always find a way to guilt Becky into cancelling plans and frankly, the orange-haired woman was tired of it. No more. She couldn't let Alexa put this much of a strain on her relationship.

"Look, I'm sorry that you're feeling down in the dumps, but I can't up and cancel my plans whenever you see fit. Seth and I are-"

"Seth? You guys go out _all_ the time!"

"Are you kidding me? We've barely seen each other at all in three weeks because for _some_ reason you won't allow me to have a relationship with anyone! You're driving me up the wall, across the ceiling, and back down to the floor again. I need some room to breathe here!"

She felt a little bad for being so blunt, but it had to be said. Hopefully - if the forces of the universe were willing - Alexa could see her side of things.

"Whoa whoa. You're going to stand there and blame your relationship troubles on me? You've got some nerve. Hey, here's a wild thought. Maybe Seth's just not into the whole 'Look at me, I'm so quirky because I know how to use cheap hair dye!' thing. Newsflash - no guy wants to date a carrot!"

Becky was taken aback by Alexa's sudden attempt at character assassination. Where did that even come from? Becky had no clue, but she wasn't going to take that lying down. She could see the fire in Alexa's eyes and imagined her own eyes were lit up about fifty degrees hotter after those insults.

"Are you honestly going to pretend like you don't cry and beg me to keep you company? 'Oh, someone was mean to me at work! Better make Becky cancel her plans and stay home with me!' Why don't you get your own life, huh?!"

Even Becky was surprised with how horrible that sounded, but enough was enough. Alexa had pressed all of the right, or in this case wrong, buttons.

Alexa was fuming, eyes glaring daggers in her roommate's direction. "You know what? Go. Go hang out with your stupid boyfriend. Go for as long as you want, I insist. The longer you're gone, the less I have to deal with you. I don't need you! I can find ways to entertain myself _just_ fine!"

Becky could only scoff at Alexa's pettiness. "All right. I will!"

"Do that!"

"I am!"

"Good!"

"Good!"

With that, Becky stormed out, slamming the door shut behind her. She had no earthly idea as to what happened, or how things escalated so quickly. Part of her wanted to go back in, apologize, and stay home with Alexa. But no, she reminded herself - this was about the principle of the matter. If she kept letting this happen, the harm done to her relationship would never heal.

Sending a rather hasty text to Seth, Becky sighed, hoping that her hair didn't resemble any fruits or vegetables this evening.

* * *

"What do you think she meant?"

"Gee, thanks for interrupting me again, Becky."

Becky had finally succeeded in her long and arduous quest of going out to dinner with Seth. The only problem was that Alexa, and their fight that took place an hour beforehand, was still fresh in her mind. Even when she wasn't messing things up, she was messing things up. She could feel Seth's gaze constantly boring holes into her forehead as her mind was anywhere else but this dinner date.

"Sorry. But seriously, what'd she mean?"

Seth let out a long, drawn out sigh. "Mean by what?"

"'I can entertain myself,' and all that. You don't think she'd do anything crazy, do you?"

"You know her better than I do. She does kind of seem like the type to get drunk by herself, maybe vomit all over the floor," Seth joked.

Mental images of Alexa drunkenly stumbling into the night flashed through Becky's brain. What if she was hit by a car? What if some aspiring mugger decided that a tiny blonde woman was the perfect target? What if a group of men pulled her into an alley and… and…

"I have to call her." Becky began to hurriedly pull her phone out of her purse, before Seth gripped her wrist. "Seth! Would you let go? This is serious!"

"Come on - listen to yourself. Man, this girl is playing you good." Becky didn't reply, her face a full of confusion and worry, so Seth continued. "This is stupid. She's fine."

"Maybe I should just run home and check. It'll only take twenty minutes, tops."

"Damn it, Becky. I'm so sick of this chick." Seth seemed to be making a concerted effort to not raise his voice, but it was obvious to Becky that he was upset. Rightfully so, but what could she do? Sure, Alexa could be annoying, and sure, she was just insulted by the shorter woman, but she was her friend. She should've cleared things up before leaving, rather than leave Alexa to her own devices. Things tended to get messy when she was alone.

"Seth, she's my friend."

"She's a grown woman! Kind of. She doesn't need you to babysit her."

"She was feeling rotten, and instead of talking to her, I yelled at her." Becky glanced at the time, her phone still in her hands. "And believe me, I'm not about to let her life end up like that 'The Fray' song."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know. 'How to Save a Life?' Popular song? I… never mind. I'll call you when I get home."

"Becky." As she turned to leave, she heard Seth call out to her. "I'm not doing this again. If you leave now, that's it."

Was Seth really giving her an ultimatum? Out of the few guys she dated, she didn't think Seth would be the one to do this sort of thing. She was at a crossroads - did she end her longest friendship to finally - _finally!_ \- have a shot at a decent relationship, or did she sacrifice another decent guy to the relationship-eating deity known as Alexa Bliss?

The choice was pretty clear.

* * *

"Alexa!"

The sound of the door slamming open caused Alexa Bliss to stumble, falling flat on her face. Becky could only watch in bewildered amazement as a stack of cards teetered back and forth, before crashing down in a cascade of black and red. Alexa rubbed the side of her nose, checking to see if the fall had damaged it in any way, before fixing her gaze onto the cards scattered across the floor. Her mouth was agape, her hard work was ruined! She looked over to the menace - the monster! - that dared to wreck her perfect tower of cards.

"Becky?! What are you doing here? You destroyed my tower! Do you know how long it took me to make that? I had to stand on the stupid couch to reach the top!"

"Have you been stacking cards this whole time?"

"I wanted to play solitaire, but I forgot how."

If this were any other time, Becky would've laughed. The tension between them was still palpable, and she knew that the other woman could feel it too. She helped the blonde to her feet, the latter immediately taking her hand away once she was able to stand.

"That's a relief. Thought you might be off getting yourself in trouble."

"Is that why you came running back home? 'Alexa can't take care of herself. Better make sure she's not dead!'" She stood with her arms crossed across her chest, scowl planted firmly on her face.

Becky emphatically shook her head. "That's not it at all! Well, okay. Part of me thought you might be a bit dead-ish. But…" Becky found that it was quite hard to explain herself. They needed to sort this out somehow, before their friendship suffered any more than it already had. "I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have snapped at you before. Let's talk this out. Without the yelling. No yelling would be good."

She made her away over to the couch, motioning for Alexa to do the same. With a roll of her eyes, Alexa did as Becky asked, albeit begrudgingly. It didn't go unnoticed by Becky that her friend had sat a little too close to her - not uncomfortably so.

Becky didn't know where to even begin with this. Why was this so awkward to talk about? It was her, it was Alexa - it was _them_. It shouldn't be this way. It shouldn't be this hard to talk about emotional things, but it was. "Alexa, you're my closest friend. We've known each other for years. We freakin' live together. Yet, for the life of me, I can't understand why you've been so clingy lately. I love spending time with you, but I can't spend all of it with you. Just tell me if there's something bothering you before my head explodes into a million, little Irish lass-kicking pieces."

Alexa's teeth sank gently into her bottom lip. She was struggling, Becky knew, to talk about whatever it was. This was unlike her, but Becky gave her the time she needed to collect herself. After a few minutes, Alexa began to speak. "Does anyone ever make fun of you?"

Well, this was certainly not the direction Becky was expecting this conversation to go in.

"Of course. Loads of times."

"Then you know what it feels like to be thought of in a certain way by people."

"Are you saying that people made fun of you? You told me that you were super popular in high school."

And it was true. Becky recalled numerous time where Alexa would brag about how she was loved by everyone in school. She had no reason to question those claims - she certainly looked the part. Gorgeous, athletic, basically every 'popular girl in a movie' trope you could think of.

"That wasn't the total truth." Alexa twirled a strand of hair around her fingers as she spoke. "I didn't have any friends, not any real friends. Everyone just writes me off as some spoiled, rich girl. Which, tch, if I was rich, I certainly wouldn't be living in this apartment."

"Well, you're definitely not rich."

"Are you insinuating that I'm spoiled?!"

Becky shrugged off Alexa's comment. "Anyway, I still have no idea what this has to do with me."

"Ugh, are you going to make me say it?" Of course Becky knew what she was going to say, but she'd still rather hear it straight from Alexa's mouth. "Fine! You're..." Alexa was trying - trying to speak her mind, trying not to get overly emotional. Yet there was nothing she could do to stop herself. "You're the only one that's ever bothered to get to know me! You make me feel special. It's frustrating because you have all of these friends and people to go parade around with. You're all I have, and I don't want anyone else to swoop in and steal you away, because I need you! There, are you happy? Huh? Becky?"

Becky was at a loss for words. She knew exactly how Alexa felt. She, too, was often bullied - for her weight, her hair, her clothes, her family, her accent. Whatever ammo people could get their hands on, they'd fire at her with gusto. If Alexa had similar experiences, it was no wonder she felt the way she did. Knowing that no words could properly express how she felt, Becky did the one thing that she'd done for Alexa many times in the past - she wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into a warm embrace.

Alexa allowed herself to give in without much of a fight. She hated being emotional - hated for people to see her being vulnerable - but for Becky, she knew she could without the fear of being judged, without the fear of being ridiculed.

"We can't be attached at the hip. Sometimes I need to do things on my own, but that doesn't mean I don't need you too. I make you feel special, you make me feel special - that's a win-win in my books! I wouldn't abandon you, ever. I'd be a fool to."

This seemed to put a smile on Alexa's face, much to Becky's delight. "For a massive dork, you're pretty good at saying the perfect things. I'm, you know, sorry too. I'll try to give you more space. Seth should be pretty thankful to me after this."

"Yeah, well, he certainly wasn't thankful that I chose you over him. Don't think I'll be seeing him again."

"You left him to come here?"

"I'm always going to choose you over anyone else. That's what Becky Lynch does."

"Again. Massive dork," Alexa stated, before latching onto Becky's side.

Becky didn't push her away.

"We, uh… we should probably pick up these cards."

Alexa took one glance at the catastrophe that was the floor, and nuzzled into Becky. "Nah, we can clean that up later."

"I had a feeling you'd say that."

Alexa was a bit much, Becky wouldn't deny it, but no one - man or woman - could ever take her place. They were always there for each other, no matter the circumstances - made the other feel special - and that was all that mattered to her. Maybe it wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do, but it was the thing that made her - made the both of them - happiest.

"Becks?"

"Hmm?"

"Your orange hair."

"What about it?"

"It's pretty."

As Alexa melted deeper into Becky's side - Becky's arm still wrapped around her, a free hand stroking the blonde's hair - Becky decided that maybe it was okay to cancel more plans. Sitting like this was definitely something she needed now.

 ** _End_**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Being an unnaturally clingy person myself, this one hit a bit close to home. The second (and final) part, told from the perspective of Alexa Bliss.**

* * *

 _ **Need You Now - Chapter 2**_

* * *

Coming back to the apartment after a hard day's work was a joy. At least that's something I really wish I could say with confidence. For the most part, it was pretty satisfying - I conquered the day, surviving mountains of paperwork, an unbearably demanding boss, and the overwhelming scent of cheap coffee that I _seriously_ can't remove from my clothes. I wanted so badly to just quit, to accept an internship anywhere else, but I couldn't do that. I needed this job, desperately. Despite the stress - despite the anger and frustration I found myself dealing with day in and day out - I almost preferred it to being home lately. It wasn't the apartment itself, or the fact that every Thursday the water would be out for an hour. It wasn't the endless amounts of stupidity that flowed through our senile landlord's mouth. It was my roommate.

It was Becky.

Becky and I had known each other since we started college. It was an acting course, one that I initially fought hard to withdraw from. Naturally, they wouldn't let me, for one idiotic reason or another. I walked into class on the first day, anger directed towards the school itself for not allowing me to escape this mime's wonderland. The professor decided that it would be such a brilliant idea to have us pair up in groups of two. Gag - but what could I say? I was already enrolled against my will, so it was either comply with the professor's silly whims, or fail, and Alexa Bliss doesn't 'fail' at anything. Our partners were chosen, and by some cruel joke, I was paired with probably the most wacky woman I'd ever seen. She bounded over to me, her orange locks swaying to and fro.

"Alexa, right?"

She had a European accent of some kind, which was surprising, considering that I'd never met someone from Europe before. My experience with Europe was limited to TV shows, and maybe a couple of travel brochures. Hey, a girl could dream!

"I'm guessing you're Becky then?"

I asked her this with all the enthusiasm of a child going to the dentist. I wasn't exactly thrilled to be doing this.

"Yep. Becky Lynch, at your service! This should be fun."

Fun? I wasn't one-hundred percent sure I even knew what the assignment entailed, but nothing about this was going to be fun. And of course, my partner was way too cheery for my liking. I had this sinking sensation in my guy that told me this was going to be a nightmare.

"Well, I don't really remember what she was saying about our assignment, so if you wanna run it by me again, that'd be just swell!"

"Ah, I've got you covered."

Becky pulled out a notebook, writings scrawled across the first page. She made a face as she read, either struggling to understand her own handwriting, or soaking in the details of our assignment. This was taking far too long, my already pencil-thin patience dwindling away to nothing.

"So?!"

"Oh, right. It's your typical 'princess and knight' type of deal. We have to make and act out our own scene."

"That sounds stupid."

"No way! I've always wanted to be a knight. Kickin' some serious lass and takin' names - what could be better? Not much."

I'd only just met this girl - this lunatic - and already she was causing my stomach to turn. Not only that, but she was making all of the calls like _she_ was the boss. Who died and made her queen of Broadway?

"Hold on. Why do you get to be the knight? I don't remember her assigning a leader to this project."

"I just think that you'd make a fine princess."

"Uh huh."

"It's true. You have this radiance about you that I don't. Take it from the one with the orange hair. It's… _Lex-traordinary_! Sorry. I, uh, do that sometimes."

One part of me wanted to scream at her for telling such a poorly timed joke, but another part of me wanted to bust out laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. Once I decided that I couldn't hold the giggles any longer, it was the start of an amazing friendship. She made me feel better in a way that no one else could, or would even try to. That day marked the beginning of my long friendship with Becky nearly seven years ago, and it was the first time I truly felt that someone wanted to cheer me up - to make me smile, to know me for me. I tried to push her away as soon as I'd met her, but she only wanted to see me happy. That's the reason why we became such fast friends, and eventual roommates.

That's the reason why I fell in love with Becky.

I wasn't exactly sure how or when it happened, but one day I just looked at her differently. The feelings - god, the feelings - they haven't gone away. It's the reason why spending time in my literal hellscape of a job sometimes seemed more appealing than coming home and dealing with them. I didn't want the feelings, because I knew they'd cause trouble. I hadn't realized how needy I'd become - desperate to gain her love before someone else stole my chance - until she brought it up in a heated argument. Things turned out okay - she said so herself, things would be okay.

But then, why did it all make me feel so terrible?

Even though she said it was fine, I still tried to make my own friends, tried to go out and put some distance between myself and the thoughts of Becky so her relationships didn't have to suffer. This would give her some time to fix her own social life after I nearly wrecked it. She could meet a guy, maybe make up with Seth, and have the 'happily ever after' she's always wanted. The thought sickened me, but if that was what she wanted, I couldn't complain. In the end, her happiness was important to me too, even if I couldn't be the direct cause of it.

It was time to meet new people. Meeting new people. For Becky. This was getting weird.

* * *

Hearing Summer and Lana talk talk about the finer points of their love lives made me nearly regret my decision to find new friends. They certainly weren't my first choice, but they were two women that lived in our building with no plans for today. My only requirement was a living human being, so they fit the bill.

"Yes, Rusev always wants to show me off. He adores me, but what else is new?"

Tch, could you sound any more smug about it, you priss? These two made me appreciate the fact that I could never be this dull. They made a library visit seem like a roller coaster ride in zero gravity. I nodded my head robotically. Remember - this was for Becky, and for my own sake.

"That's so romantic!"

Somebody, please. End this misery. No, no! For Becky. For myself. I had to stay strong. Nod here, 'That's true' there. Things were working flawlessly.

"It is, isn't it? We always make time to ensure that we eat every dinner together."

"Oh, I do the same, and it does wonders for our relationship. What about you, Alexa?"

This was starting to get a bit annoying. Out of all the things to talk about, they had to talk about relationships. My mind blanked as I struggled to think of a reply.

"I'm not really in a relationship right now."

"Oh, poor thing."

Oh great, now they were pitying me. Realizing that it was probably not in my best interest to maul them, I sat back and sipped my drink. Coffee, the pinnacle of irony. I hate it. I hate a lot of things about this. As I watched them quietly talk amongst themselves, practically tuning out my exist at this point, I decided to try my hand at conversing in a non-sarcastic way.

"Hey."

They both turned to me, making this extremely awkward. So awkward, in fact, that I completely forgot what I was going to say. I had to improvise quick.

"What do you call an alligator in a vest? An in-vest-i-gator."

If my delivery were even half as good as Becky's, they would've loved that, I know it. Instead, they raised a pair of confused eyesbrows, before turning to speak to each other once more. They didn't notice when I threw my head back, or when I groaned loudly at the sky, or when I banged my head against the table.

This was a mistake.

* * *

After suffering through two hours of torture at the hands of the world's most boring blondes, all I wanted to do was nap. I turned the key to the apartment before slowly opening the door. To my surprise, I was greeted by the sight of Becky sitting peacefully on the couch, watching some wrestling show. She gave me a greeting without even facing my direction.

"Hey, Alexa. Out somewhere?"

The surprising thing was how unnaturally calm she was about this. We generally made it a rule to let the other know when we'd be heading out, so that we wouldn't worry. It wasn't an enormous deal that I didn't call - sometimes I'm forgetful when I go shopping, okay? Give me a break! - but she normally scolded me, at least gave me a flick on the forehead. Right now, she was giving me nothing.

"Uh, yeah. I was out with Summer and Lana."

"Ah, nice women. A bit boring, but what can you do?"

Apparently this was news only to me. If only I had known that before subjecting myself to the horrors of today. Seriously, I can never name my kid 'Rusev' now. Not that I would've, but still. The name is tainted. I was so busy thinking about the oddity of this ordeal that I almost missed Becky's follow-up question.

"Have a good time?"

No.

"Yeah. It was… nice."

It was anything but nice, but if Becky knew that she'd only coddle me. I didn't want her to coddle me. She needed to be away from me.

"Good good."

I waited for Becky to continue, but as I watched Becky turn back to the TV, it was becoming clear that this conversation was over. That was that, I guess.

"Well, I'm going to go sleep now. I'll see ya later, Becks."

It only took two steps in the direction opposite Becky for her to spring off of the couch and confront me, pulling my wrist and whipping my body around.

"All right, what's really going on here, Alexa?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been acting strange for a while now. You're throwing me for a loop here. First, all you want to do is spend time with me, then it's like I can barely get a few words out of you. And now you're out and about with people you hardly even know? It feels like there's this rift between us, and it's killing me that I don't know how to fix it."

The look in her eyes nearly made me want to die. It was a look of pleading - of sadness, of confusion - and I caused it. I never wanted Becky to feel like this, but I couldn't take feeling like _this_ , like I have been.

"We both need some space, Becks."

"Space? This is more than 'some space.' This is a universe's worth of space, and I don't approve."

"It's just that, I've already ruined your relationship and-"

"God, Alexa! Is this about that thing with Seth? That was weeks ago, and I told you that everything was fine!"

"No, no! Don't you get it? It's NOT fine!"

I didn't want to yell, I didn't want to talk about this at all, but she didn't understand. How could she? She wasn't the nuisance. She wasn't the one that was gossiped about at lunch tables by grown women. She wasn't the one that had to be defended for being a _mess_ of a person. She didn't understand - she couldn't.

"You told me that people treat you differently, and I got that. It's okay if I'm the only person you can trust. I've been there, and I know how much it sucks - how hard it is to find even one person that accepts you for you. You don't have to create some barrier between us. We're going to be friends no matter what."

She spoke calmly, gently, to get the point across, but it wasn't enough. I couldn't hold this back anymore.

"Stop saying it's okay! It's not okay, it's just... It's not! You think I don't know that I'm totally pathetic for this? You think I don't know that Seth and your other dates all probably told you that I'm a stupid kid? They're all right. You even said so yourself - 'Get your own life!'"

"That's not fair, I was upset. I didn't mean that!"

"But you did mean it, and you were right. I need to get my own life! I can't keep ruining yours! And even though I think that those guys you dated are _so_ stupid and aren't good enough for you at all, I want you to be happy! I'll find my own friends, and you'll be free of me. That's what everyone thinks I should do, right?"

I could tell that she had something on her mind, it was easy to read it from her expression, but I wasn't done. I couldn't let this fester inside my mind anymore. These feelings - they needed to be let out. They needed to be shared with Becky. I hated crying, but as tears slipped down my cheeks, I found myself not caring about my pride anymore.

"But the real horrible thing about it is that I'm so hopelessly in love with you. I don't know when it happened, but I can't deal with it. I'm so fed up with it! I'm just constantly fighting with myself over wanting to spend time with you or staying away from you. I don't know what to do anymore, and I'm so sorry that this is happening."

This all felt so uncharacteristic of me. I'm used to being confident, to being strong-willed. These emotions made me feel so helpless, and I couldn't stand it. I wanted to voice this to Becky - to let her know what was going through my mind, but I couldn't. I couldn't move my lips, I couldn't breathe, and it took me a second to realize that it was because of Becky.

Becky was kissing me.

As if this all wasn't confusing enough, Becky suddenly decided that the meeting of our lips would be a good idea. And it was, because this was the happiest I've ever felt, an odd sensation following the sadness that preceded. I didn't care though. I didn't bother connecting the dots. I returned the kiss without hesitation, a squeal escaping from the back of my throat. Before I could fully appreciate Becky's impeccable kissing ability, she pulled away. The reality of the situation hit me, and bewilderment came flooding back.

"You kissed me."

"Yes, that was a thing I did."

She was acting coy about it, but this needed explaining.

"I don't understand."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you, Alexa. You keep saying that I'm the one that doesn't understand, but it's you that doesn't seem to get it. I guess that's my fault. I didn't really do a great job of explaining myself. Although, it might help you understand a bit better if those pigtails weren't squeezing the sides of your head so tight. Can't imagine you're gettin' much blood flowing up there."

"My hair's not even in pigtails right now, jerk."

"Right. So..."

"So?"

Still stunned, it was hard to know where Becky was going with this. This was possibly the weirdest, most emotionally draining day of my life. Nonetheless, I wanted to hear what Becky had to say, practically begging her to go on with just my eyes.

"Back when Seth and I made like a banana-"

"And split."

"Yes, and split - I thought you might be emotionally dependent on me, which would be bad. But that couldn't be the case, or else you'd probably be a lot worse than you were. You're a bit whiny, but not crazy."

Listening to Becky speak, it was clear that while all of this was going on, she was just as confused about me as I was about her.

"Then I thought that maybe you were playing some joke, which would've been downright mean, but you're not like that, minus that one time you put toothpaste in my sandwich. April Fool's, so fair game, I suppose. It sort of became obvious that you had a crush on me. Process of elimination and all that. It made sense to me - the jealousy, the fear. All par for the crush course. Only, I figured it'd be over with in a month, maybe two. I didn't expect you to be in love with me."

Becky's train of thought was pretty amazing, in the 'I'm surprised this train is still on the tracks' sort of way. The one thing that stuck out to me was the fact that she'd suspected it this whole time. Was I thought easy to figure out?

"Geez, this is all so screwed up. I should've said something weeks ago when it all went down, but it was difficult because I was going through the same thing you were. I told you I like my alone time, but not for the reasons you think. I wasn't sick of you. I needed space because I wanted to distance myself from these feelings of you. _That's_ why it got on my nerves - because every time we were together, I wanted to confess - but then you started doing the same thing, and it hurt. I didn't know how to say that without outright telling you that I loved you. Which I do. I love you Lexi, a lot. I have for a long time now."

As soon as the words 'I love you' left her lips, I wasted no time in returning to the same position we were in - our lips connected. Lips that had wanted to say so much for so long, but just didn't know how. Until now. Lips that finally spoke the words that wanted to be spoken. This time, it was left up to me to break the kiss, coming up for a much needed breath.

"Do you think this could work? Us, I mean."

I asked the question, but I didn't want to hear the answer - I was _afraid_ of the answer.

"I won't lie. It's scary. I've never loved anyone this way before. I've never had anyone love me - never had anyone say that they were scared of losing me. But if you're willin', then I'm willin'. And I'll do whatever it takes to make sure you never feel like that again."

"Becky, you already have. This is all I've ever wanted."

After everything that happened this past month, I could honestly - for the first time - say that I was okay. More than okay, actually. Becky was always the one with a lot of friends, the one that went out on dates and tried to fall in love. I was scared of her falling in love with someone else. I was scared that maybe - just maybe - she'd get tired of me, tired of my attitude, or my personality. I was still scared. Scared of where this relationship would take us, scared of how this would all turn out. But if there was one person that I'd be willing to take this leap of faith with, it was Becky Lynch.

"By the way, definitely don't hang out with Summer or Lana again. I have no idea what you were thinking there, to be frank with you."

"Ugh, please. I'm trying to erase that whole thing from my memory. So much for making friends."

"If you really want to make friends, Bayley won't stop talking about you. I have to warn you - she's a bit hug-y. Then there's Charlotte. She's a lot less hug-y, and more sarcastic-y."

As Becky and I laughed over the eccentric antics of her friend - staring into each other's eyes all the while - I could only think about how good this felt. I wish I hadn't been so needy - hadn't given in to the feelings of love so easily - but I'll never apologize for it again, because it helped us realize that we both needed this. We needed one another, we needed this love.

We needed it now, and we were both happy to oblige.

 _ **End**_


End file.
